Can we reach Mars using thrusters and maintain a constant velocity?

[Jenab]

I worked out the theory of transfer orbits and put it in the thread entitled, "Transfer orbits for dummies: a hillbilly tutorial." I included an example problem of a spaceship departing from Vesta and arriving at Earth.

Jerry Abbott

 

[patrick_usc]

It's my understanding that everything in space is in some sort of "free fall", which is pretty much what an orbit is. So, if you were in a spaceship and applied some thrusters, you are pretty much changing the orientation and speed of your "free fall", right?

So, let's say I wanted to get to Mars. If I turned my thrusters on full blast would I keep constantly accelerating (as long as the thrusters are active)? Would the gravitational pull of Earth cause a slight deceleration? Because I'm closer to Earth, Earth wants to pull me back, but when I cross over the 50% distance mark then Mars's pull will be more influential and will start pulling me in. Of course this 'threshold' wouldn't be 50% because Mars and Earth are not exactly the same size, and would not have the same GP.

My main question is: Could you simply apply thrusters to reach a certain velocity, and then turn them off (to save fuel) and maintain that velocity until you reached your destination?

Yes you would maintain that speed given that space is a vacuum and nothing would slow you down (unless you get hit by some space debris)

 

[russ_watters]

Note, this is a 4 year old thread.